As services increase, an increasingly higher requirement is imposed on a network capacity. In the prior art, low-power base stations, that is, small-cell base stations, are generally deployed in coverage of an existing macro base station to enhance a capacity and the coverage. These small-cell base stations and the macro base station form a heterogeneous network to maximize an access capacity, optimize user experience, and reduce costs.
The small-cell base stations may be deployed in different positions, for example, deployed in positions such as a traffic light, a street light, a utility pole, and a building side in a commercial street and a square. Due to diversity of deployment positions of the small-cell base stations, multiple transmission technologies need to be deployed to adapt to various deployment scenarios. The multiple transmission technologies include various wired transmission technologies and wireless transmission technologies.
In a process of studying and practicing the prior art, the inventor finds that the capacity can be enhanced indeed by deploying independent small-cell base stations. However, a large number of independent small-cell base stations need to be deployed, and the macro base station and the small-cell base stations communicate with a gateway device and a network management server separately. As a result, many new network elements are added on a network management server side, and communication and management become extremely complex.